A WATCHET community group is appealing for local people to help it make a big splash in an online competition to win £10,000.

The social enterprise regeneration group the Onion Collection wants to restore Watchet's historic Victorian Pleasure Grounds with help from the Aviva Community Fund.

The former leisure site is now known as Splash Point and will need a vast amount of work to return it to its former glory.

The collective is calling for people to vote for the scheme online to win £10,000 through the Aviva Fund.

The aim of the project is to provide both a visitor attraction for Watchet and a place where people can go and relax in a community-run garden.

The plot has sweeping views over the coast and countryside and could even be used as a place to stage community events.

A lot of physical work, as well as money, will be needed to get the space up to scratch, including gardening, landscaping, carpentry and woodwork.

The collective said the design, construction and landscaping elements would involve the input of local residents and volunteers, enabling people to learn new skills.

Both the skilled and unskilled would be welcome to help, as would students, retired people and/or practising professionals.

If all goes according to plan, the scheme will start with workshops to design the pleasure grounds.

This would be followed by community landscaping days to carry out the clearing, landscaping and planting of the site.

The project would also include a three-day wood workshop with award-winning architect Piers Taylor from BBC2's £100k House, timber specialist Charley Brentnall and landscape architect Marc Dix from LT Studio.

They will help to design and construct a timber structure such as a lookout or a pavilion.

If the bid for Aviva funding is successful, the money will be used to pay for professional expenses, materials, tools and equipment.

Rachel Kelly, Onion Collective director, said: "The project has the potential to be completely transformative for Watchet and would create a beautiful area that could be enjoyed by all.

"But the project is also about local people learning new skills, coming together and being involved in something important.

"We would love to gear from anyone who would like to be involved in the project – so please vote for us!"

Onion Collective were put forward for the Aviva fund by James Beadell of Beadell's Mortgage Advisors.